Cotton, Hay and Rags

We're taking my mother to see My Fair Lady tonight.  As I was trying to get back to sleep at 4 a.m. this morning, I was thinking of some of the lyrics to that delightful "Hymn to Him" that Henry Higgins sings:

Women are irrational, that's all there is to that!
Their heads are full of cotton, hay, and rags!

Later in the song he sings

Why is thinking something women never do?
Why is logic never even tried?
Straight'ning up their hair is all they ever do.
Why don't they straighten up the mess that's inside?

That's how I'm feeling these days.  Like my head is full of cotton, hay and rags and that I need to straighten up the mess that's inside.

For some reason I have all these half-baked thoughts, emotions, ideas and plans floating around in my head like the opening graphics of The Big Bang Theory without any real way to collect them all and do something about them.  There is much I want to do before I leave for Iowa on Sunday and much I want to organize to pack for a trip of nearly a month, but I just seem to be in a paralyzed state and unable to focus on one thing for more than a few minutes.

I did manage to get to Logos yesterday, though.  And I brought my trusty "today at Logos" notebook to record my day, but it was so slow that when Walt asked if I had enough to make a journal entry, I had to admit that I did not.   Sandy had a great morning with lots of customers and lots of sales.  It was an hour after arrived before the first customer came into the store (and bought nothing) and 45 minutes after that before the second customer arrived.  

The only thing really noteworthy (and not all that much) was that the antiquarian rushed in, checked the old book shelves, chose a book on the history of Moravia, and was out the door all in less than 3 minutes.

There was the usual flurry of activity around 4, which put about four customers in the store, but at the end of the day I think I had recorded a grand total of five sales.

Even "my friend" didn't buy anything today, though he was carrying a book with a sales slip in it, so he must have shopped at the new used book store that opened up in town before coming to Logos.

In truth, the only reason I went to Logos yesterday, since Susan had suggested I take some time off, was because I don't know "my friend's" name or how to contact him.  When I last saw him, I was excited about the trip to France and now I'm going off to Iowa for a month. We chat ever week, so I wanted to let him know what had happened and what was going to happen...because he wouldn't know my name to ask someone where I was.  Not that I'm sure it would matter to him, but he's the only customer with whom I have a real regular connection and I just wanted to let him know what's going on.

Susan came to relieve me at least half an hour early, but she wanted to talk.  She is Char's cousin's daughter, and so has been in the loop as far as what was going on with Mike and helped Char contact some of the relatives that Char couldn't face calling after he died.

We had a good talk and I was glad she was there.  

I'm so focused on what to take to Iowa (not a simple packing since (a) it will snow, and (b) I'll still be in the U.S. so I want to continue writing to Bri and Lacie each week, which means being sure to bring stamps, envelopes, the Washi tape with which I decorate their envelopes, and little gifts to include in each.  There are other things that I do on a regular basis which involve copying the right file folders onto my flash drive.  I also am in a couple of journal swaps, which I will continue while in Iowa, so I need to be sure to bring the stuff for those. 

Nothing earth shattering, nothing that will be catastrophic if I leave it behind, but as disorganized as I am in my house, I am very organized on the computer and that will help when it comes to getting everything together.

I was happy to discover that the first pair of shoes I bought the other day fits nicely and was comfortable all day at the store.  Today I will wear the second pair and see how that works out.  I am sorry that I didn't get a slightly different color for one of the pairs, as they look similar and are both black, but black is my color these days anyway, so I'm happy with that color.

It is now 5:30 a.m. and maybe I can start doing something around  here.  Or maybe sleep for another hour.  I dunno.  My head is full of cotton, hay and rags.

We're nearing "peak" color around Davis this week